


Syringa

by cureelliott



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Makeup, Mutual Grooming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 11:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1743830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cureelliott/pseuds/cureelliott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Stop trying to close your eyes! I don’t want to stab you!”</p><p>Kairi and Lea are forging a friendship of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Syringa

**Author's Note:**

> Another gift for my friend [darkrescues](darkrescues.tumblr.com)! I hope you like it (and also being bombarded with weird tiny stories about all our favourite KH cuties!)

“Stop trying to close your eyes! I don’t want to stab you!” 

“Ow! God! I’m trying! Do you have to press so hard?” 

Lea bit the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping back at her and reminded himself that he was making an effort to be friendly now. He needed to make friends now. It was important. 

Kairi looked up at Lea sulkily, blinking rapidly to relieve the stinging in her eyes. Maybe he had been pressing a little too hard. Now he felt like a dick. Kairi wanted to be his friend. She was trying her hardest, Lea just had to be a little kinder. 

“... What?” Kairi said and Lea realized he’d just been staring at her. Not saying anything. Very smooth. 

“Sorry.” he said, looking away and rubbing the back of his head “Here, look, just focus on a spot on the ceiling. Don’t look down, or you’ll try to blink. I’ll try not to press so hard.” 

Kairi eyed him suspiciously but lifted her chin again and squared her shoulders. She looked up at the ceiling and Lea put his hand on her cheek. Her skin was warmer than his own, and a shade or two darker as well. Living on a tropical island would do that for your complexion, he supposed. Still, the sensation of her skin was oddly familiar.

Lea lifted his perfectly sharpened eyeliner pencil again and began to trace the line of skin above Kairi’s lower lashes. Her face twitched and he knew she was resisting the urge to blink away the foreign sensation. But she didn’t and her eyes stayed fixed on the ceiling; Lea’s advice was helping. 

He carefully mimicked an identical line on the opposite eye and then pulled away to admire his work so far. 

“Good, now look down at the floor. But don’t close your eyes.” 

Kairi silently complied and Lea switched to his weapon of choice. Liquid eyeliner brush in hand, Lea smoothly brushed out a kitten-style line on one eyelid and then the other. As the liner dried, he rifled through his oversized make-up bag. Heather? No. Slate? Oh no, too dark. Toupe? A nice neutral but... Lea glanced at Kairi, still transfixed on the floor. Smears of dried blood and roughly torn knees decorated her jeans and bandages covered at least 20% of her exposed arms (Riku kept telling her to wear long sleeves during practice and yet...). Lea thought about the girl on the beach that had run headlong into a misty portal of darkness back when he was Axel. No, if Kairi was anything, she wasn’t neutral. 

Lea dug out his rarely used lilac (it didn’t really go with his hair) and used his pinky finger to gently brush some on Kairi’s eyelid. 

He stepped back and watched Kairi’s face intently. 

“What do you think?” 

Kairi looked up and passed him into her mirror. Her face was unreadable and Lea felt an intense desire to run as far as he could, all the way back to Yen Sid’s tower. 

But then Kairi smiled and looked at him and if Lea hadn’t know better, he’d have thought she could melt his heart with a face like that. 

“It looks great, Lea! Where did you learn to do this stuff?” 

Lea looked away and willed himself not to blush. Awkwardly rubbing the back of his head, he said “Oh, you know. You pick up this and that.” 

Kairi laughed, “Well, whenever we have an excuse to make up our faces, you’re making up mine.” She stepped closer to Lea and for a terrible moment he thought she was going to hug him. But instead she reached past him and picked a hair brush up off her vanity. Kairi was on her own there, he thought, he barely knew how to take care of his own hair let alone someone else’s. 

Then Kairi did something strange. She sat on the edge of her bed with her legs open wide and patted the side of her bed, looking at Lea expectantly. Lea blankly stared back at her. Was it some kind of island thing?

The silence stretched out and Kairi rolled her eyes.

“Sit here, you flaming doorknob. I’ll brush your hair.” 

Lea was taken aback. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had brushed his hair (the last time someone had done something so kind and so intimate). Had Isa ever... ? 

“Lea?” Kairi called Lea out of himself and patted the side of her bed again. Lea came to her call and sat down between her legs, his back against her bed. She fondled his head with her hand, arranging his hair how she liked before she began to gently brush it. 

“I can’t believe you don’t put any product in this.” She said and Lea huffed out a laugh. After that they fell into comfortable silence and Lea looked out Kairi’s bedroom window at the setting, late afternoon sun and listened to the sounds of the softly lapping ocean surrounding Destiny Islands. 

It was nice to have friends.


End file.
